”The happiest days of your life” by Penelope Lively Essay

This is an analysis of the short story â€Å"The happiest days of your life†. The short story is written by Penelope Lively, who was sent away from her home to a boarding school in the rainy England. The short story is with an omniscient narrator, and takes place in the southern England – or more preciously in a area called Sussex. The story stretches over a day while a boy named Charles and his parents is going to visit an boarding school. The Sussex area is a part of the upper class, which indicates that the environment is rich. The boarding school (St. Edwards’s Preparatory School) is very big and luxurious. That can also be seen in the fact that the school is a big mansion with a swimming pool. It’s very formal inside the school, and the parents meets the maid who is all done up – which the mom approaches a lot (page 56, line 15). The school is very expensive, which tells that it’s not middle class area. In the end of the story the parents mentions that the school is a bit pricey, which indicates that they aren’t entirely upper class, but more upper middle class. Something that underlines, that they are upper middle class is that they uses a very formal language. There is no slang, and they are very correct in what they say and with their grammar. In page 56 they are talking about cricket, which is very upper class. They uses direct speech, but most of time the short story are in is past tense. Charles is the main character in the short story, and from the text I would say that he is an only child, since the parents want to send him to a expensive boarding school. Charles parents are both very self-centured. They think they care about Charles, and his feelings but without noticing they don’t see that Charles is not very happy or positive about the boarding school. Charles parents are very positive about the boarding school. The parents have a conversation, where Charles father says â€Å"Wilcox says quite a few City people send their boys here. One or two of the merchant bankers, those kind of people. It’s the sort of contact that would do no harm at all†. Those lines dedicates that Charles’s father is a businessman. The â€Å"City† is probably London, and thinks a lot about his career and to earn money. I think one of the main reasons the father sends his son away to that particular boarding school is to get contacts, because he know that the kids at that school has great families (page 56, line  25-30). He actually mentions that he could play cricket with them, which I already mentioned, is very upper class. The mother is kind of the same way. Also very self-centered, but she don’t have the same reason as Charles father. She is concerned about her son, but not as much as she is concerned about her own image and others opinion about her and their family. When the mother first entered the school she thought about her friend Sally, who bought an entirely new cream-linen-coat just for coming there, so now she has to be fine and live up to the standard. The mother corrects the headmasters wife, when she says â€Å"You live in Finchley, is that right?†. The mentions fast, that they don’t live in Finchley, but in Hampstead instead. Hampstead is for the upper class and rich and important people, when more normal families lives in Finchley. She don’t want the headmasters wife, to get an wrong impression about them. We don’t know much about the headmaster and the headmasters wife, but we know that they are fine people. The kids at the school probably likes the headmasters wife, because when she entered a room they became quiet and when she leaves they hold the door for her. Charles might be about 6-8 years because he is about to start at a preparatory school. Charles doesn’t like the situation and he is very uncomfortable. This can be seen in the beginning of the short story, when Charles sits in the back of the car with an unopened box of chocolate and a folded comic book. That isn’t a normal behavior for at child in that age, because usually they like sweets and comic books. Charles is very quiet, so he doesn’t say much at the boarding school. In the end when he sits in the car he hears the echo of the boy who said they shall mash him next term. The boys seems to appear nice, so maybe it was a joke but Charles really takes it to him and becomes afraid. That really indicates that he is insecure, because he even don’t want to tell his parents about that episode in the short story. The main conflict in the short story is that conflict between Charles and his insecure personality. He can’t say his opinion about the boarding school to his parents. Maybe he can feel that his parents are more interested in business contacts and their own reputation instead of him being happy, and that creates a misunderstood parent-child relationship who can serious consequences later in Charles life. The short story is called â€Å"The happiest days of your life† and that is something you usually says  about the time on a boarding school, but maybe in this case it could mean that those days are over. The time in the story changes, and all before the headmaster’s wife is taking Charles away is in past tense, but after that it goes to present but in this case it could mean that those days are over. The happiest days were until the time at the boarding school and now it is over. The time until the headmaster’s wife takes Charles away is in the past tense and that is what was and is no more. The boarding school is now and in present. The beginning of the boarding is the ending of his happiest days of his lives. Penelope Lively maybe had it at the same day, when she was forced to a boarding school and her life is an inspiration to this short story.

A Definite Difference of Opinions Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers

A Definite Difference of Opinions During the development of the young country of the United States of America, everyone had the ability to include their opinions on any subject. But many times, only a few voices were actually listened to. In this case Thomas Jefferson, a Republican, and Alexander Hamilton, a Federalist, were two of the most prominent people in the production of this government. Although disagreement was very common with these two, their contradictions definitely attributed to the development of America. During the first term of presidency Alexander Hamilton had the advantage over Jefferson since he was a great ally with the president George Washington. At this time Hamilton was chosen as the Secretary of Treasury, which was an important job. Hamilton created financial plans that would supposedly clear the debt of the United States. During one situation, Hamilton produced a deal with Jefferson and his Republican friends that moved the nations capitol to Philadelphia. But that was one of the very few agreements between the two. One very popular debate occurred soon after the nations capitol moved. It is referred to as the debate between a "broad" and a "strict" construction of the new Constitution. Hamilton came up with a bank proposal that would produce banks around the country. Hamiltons idea was to keep the current of commerce flowing, and to keep business leaders happy by building a bank capitol. Thomas Jefferson was in great opposition to this idea. He and his friends explained that they did not want a country fill with cities, mills, mines, and factories; they would much rather see the farming production prosper in this country. Jefferson and his colleagues had bent their ideas with the national and state debts, but in no way would they receive the bank proposal lying down. They complained that the Constitution did not give Congress power to build banks; therefore, they should not be permitted. Hamilton, on the hand, explained that the Constitution stated that the government would pr! oduce a proper way of managing money, which the bank was for. George Washington believed arguments by both Hamilton and Jefferson, but he decided to sign the bill. As a result, economy was greatly affected in Americas development. Another great disagreement between the two was the whole idea of foreign affairs. The Federalists, led by Hamilton, supposedly believed that they should have never broken from the great empire. In times of war they repeatedly showed favoritism to Great Britain, the supposed enemies. The Republicans, led by Jefferson and Madison, favored the country of France and the common citizens of the country. They influenced the common people of France to overthrow the French Nobility. A third difference of opinion centered around life styles of the American people. Basically Jefferson despised the idea of a New York City kind of country, he believed it would bring crime and other consequences. Jefferson wanted a more of a Wisconsin type of country, where everyone owned their own land and had their own type of freedom. Hamilton and the Federalists had totally different beliefs, wanting cities and factories in the country. After the election of John Adams in 1796 differences between the ideas of Jefferson and Hamilton grew larger. The acts produced by the Federalist party deeply troubled Jefferson and the Republicans. Although a little harsh, the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, produced a way for the Federalists to revolt against Republican opposition and to increase power for themselves. These acts did not permit anyone to criticize the government at all, through writing, or any other way. It also extended the time to become an American citizen, since the Federalists believed that most of the foreigners would become Republicans. This deeply troubled Jefferson and Madison, but they had to find a way to fight back for the Republicans. Jefferson reacted with the production of the Kentucky Resolutions, which permitted states the power to judge a bill or law, unconstitutional, or invalid. This allowed the states to control the laws that would circulate their area. This, and other reactions ! by the Republicans contradicted the acts produced by the Federalists and almost equalized power on both sides. As you can see, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson argued about many subjects to

New Media in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

New Media in China - Essay Example (Ditong, 2009). This was unexpected of China. As in the past, Chinese media had never broadcasted instantly news related to natural disasters without the consultation and direction from the Chinese Government. But this was the first time it had behaved differently. In the 1980’s reporting of such disasters was not allowed as it was considered not to be in the best interest of China. It was thought that reporting such events would harm the country’s good reputation. With time, China’s perspective regarding the broadcasting of news related to natural disasters changed to becoming more open and less introvert. And now reporting such events is no longer a politically sensitive issue. This was an example of one medium change among the different forms of Chinese media with the passage of time. All Chinese media experienced similar change as the world advanced. History: Traditional Media to New Media in China With the change of dynasties and rulers, China experienced ev olutionary changes in its media reforms. Starting from the 1956, it was the first time that a Chinese computer scientist edited the article on computer theory. In the year 1978, Den Xiaoping, the Time Magazine person of the year, became the ruler of China and he brought a transition from planned to a market economy and also the existing Chinese television channel kept its name as CCTV. In 1979, a first advertisement of a toothpaste was published in Tianjin Daily and a first TV commercial was broadcasted. Furthermore, the â€Å"Stars†, a group of artists, made artwork that was not acceptable by the Chinese authority, so they were never allowed to display their works. However, they displayed their portraits outside the Chinese Art Gallery shocking the citizens of China who were culture oriented and the paintings for away from their culture. In 1980, the first woman’s magazine was published on July 1 talking about women’s health, fashion and beauty related issues. In 1982, the Chinese Government declared the Advertisement Management Temporary Regulations. These regulations were not like forced laws and their purpose was to support the advertisement industry and make them progress. Western rock music was discussed for the first time in 1983 in a Chinese magazine called the New Observer (translated). Reforms were introduced by the Chinese Government in that year which decentralized the television and radio broadcasting units to some extent. In 1984, when the Kong Fu television series started airing, the tv series from other countries also began being broadcasted which included the Mexican, Brazilian and Japanese serials. Furthermore, an overseas magazine got published on contract with the New York Magazine. In 1986, many extraordinary changes took place. A global advertising company established its office in China. Secondly, a first email is sent from one Chinese scientist to another living in Switzerland. After another ten years, the internet became available to the common public. In June 1989, China was experiencing an internal conflict which was later named Tiananmen Square Massacre by the West. This conflict was broadcasted live by the CNN in Beijing. For the first time, an internal conflict of China came to be watched by millions of people in the world. However; the government fired two of the CCTV representatives who had participated in that live broadcast. In 1994, an English language newspaper in China created its website which also published foreign news in its content which was

Comparison of satire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Comparison of satire - Essay Example First, his characters were chosen to represent types of people or some generalized aspect of human nature. In Tartuffe, he had characters that portrayed man's distrust of others and the pretentious side of men. The religious hypocrite in the play as well as the proud gentleman was examples of Moliere's building of a character for a satire such as Tartuffe. Second, after choosing the type of character, Molire created certain situations which would illustrate the abnormalities of this type of characters. He exposed the character to situations which demonstrated the character's deviation from the normal, socially accepted behavior. By this method, the audience soon became aware of both the nature of the type and the nature of his nonconformity with society. One of the most apparent uses of this technique would be in Tartuffe or The Bourgeois Gentleman. Third, in continuation of the above point, the play ended when the characters have been fully exposed and sufficiently evaluated their abnormalities. In a play like Tartuffe, however, Molire continued the play for an entire act longer than is often thought necessary. The fifth act of Tartuffe contributes little or nothing to the total view of the play and is a deliberate piece of flattery to the king. An excerpt of Scene I Act V: Last, since Molire's aim was to reveal characters in exemplary situations and expose their oddities, he never included any background information on the characters. All we know of the person consists of those basic traits seen operating at the moment on the stage. There was no additional information provided such as the family background or economic status of the characters. Although this type of drama, satire, necessitates a certain faith in the value of society, the dramatist does not necessarily dislike all of the aspects of his particular contemporary society. Laughter results from the unusual behavior of man that is really happening in the society. Moliere's play had controversies about its criticisms of the traditions and beliefs of religious people. As a result, he had problems in having permission to perform the play. Tartuffe's character according to Moliere was not a living example of the religious faith instead Tartufee was a religious hypocrite. The play presented different types of religious people such as those who pretend to be faithful (Tartuffe), those who are traditional Christians (Orgon) and those who believe that God wanted the people to enjoy all the good things in life such as flesh, power and luxury (Cleante). Moliere depicted the character of Orgon as a believer that men are born with the original sin and that men are bound to be

Exam Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Exam - Coursework Example It’s not mentioned whether the printer supports Wi-Fi or not so we are going to assume that printer supports Wi-Fi printing so we wont need any extra hardware for printer as well. Now we will assume that Louise have three children as well as office at the home so definitely he won’t be needing disturbance in his office at the time of working so he will have a house of minimum three floor which in hardware terms increase our one more need of wireless switch with boosters in order to increase wireless signal strength on other floors. In Software terms we will be needing only Child locks for Louis children in order they dont accidentally land on sites which they are not supposed to visit. Remaining software needs like protecting wireless network by locking it with password and making it compatible for only 9 systems can be done from the settings of the wireless router. So For Wireless Router we will just need is one Ethernet cable to connect Broadband modem with the Wireless Router thats all because everything else will be connected to the wireless router using wireless connection. So in order to protect such use of their internet they will have to lock the security with using any password which is difficult for others to guess other than family members, as well as they can specify the MAC address of all 9 systems in the Router settings and bar any other service requests other than these 9 systems/devices. 2) PII is an Information about a person that recognizes, links, relates, or is exclusive to, or describes him or her, e.g. a passport number; age, police rank, civilian, marital status, race, salary, mobile numbers. Social engineering- is an act of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging information, rather than by breaking in or using technical cracking techniques e.g. via email, phone, dumpster diving, online, reverse, USB

Peer Support Program for New Nurses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Peer Support Program for New Nurses - Essay Example Every day that nurses see a distressed person, an injured person and even deaths occurring almost every day in their presence. Although they are trained to handle this, they nonetheless have to sometimes be overwhelmed by this (Robinson, 2003). These nurses need peer-support in the workplace. Â  Nurses also almost always have to work with precision which means that any small mistakes can lead to serious repercussions for the patients as well as the nurses. Peer support is definitely appreciated to maintain this accuracy in working. New nurses may not be able to have everything in their fingertips and sometimes can have a very difficult time getting their head around the many tasks they carry out every day. In this regard, a peer support program for new nurses would have to include the following; Â  Like any workplace, nurses and especially new ones need social support from their peers. Social and psychological support is important to the nurses because that feeling of belonging is a vital ingredient in increasing the nurse’s efficacy (Hughes, 2012). Â  Building the formal social support systems can be made from the informal to make formal systems. It is good to note that informal social support systems develop naturally everywhere in the workplace. Unfortunately, these informal social support systems are not efficient in their ways and it is necessary to make sure that they are harnessed. To formalize this system is important to make sure that the new nurses can benefit as soon as they join the working force in a care centre or hospital. Â  New nurses can be overwhelmed by their work. Needless to say, overwhelmed nurses can only give healthcare which is of lower quality to the patient. This can also lead to their mental health deteriorating and they therefore need support. This peer support can be accessed through information systems which make real-time consultations with other nurses (Michael, 2014). Â  

How does Descartes use the example of wax to reinforce his argument of Term Paper

How does Descartes use the example of wax to reinforce his argument of the existence of the self - Term Paper Example e I am) which implies that one’s consciousness, set of thoughts or thinking or ability to doubt would give proof of his own existence because of the ‘I’ or ego that conceives it (R. Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy) This is all the more reinforced when Descartes came up with the â€Å"wax argument† in substantiating his proof on the existence of the self. To Descartes, the program of radical doubt must be established on a solitary endeavor or more appropriately, a deliberate isolation which forms the nature of his philosophical work having been freed of social or emotional disturbances enabling him to inquire â€Å"What shall I say of the mind itself, that is, of myself? For as yet I do not admit that I am anything but mind. What, then! I who seem to possess so distinct an apprehension of the ‘piece of wax’, do I not know myself, both with greater truth and certitude, and also much more distinctly and clearly? For if I judge that the wax exists because I see it, it assuredly follows, much more evidently, that I myself am or exist, for the same reason: for it is possible that what I see may not in truth be wax, and that I do not even possess eyes with which to see anything; but it cannot be that when I see, or, which comes to the same thing, when I think I see, I myself who think am nothing (Descartes, Meditation II).â⠂¬  Basically, Descartes proposed the â€Å"wax argument† in two stages being – â€Å"(1) the argument from change; and (2) the argument from intellection then personified the â€Å"wax† in an entity called ‘Bob’ who sits on the mantle as time ‘t’ passes (Graziano, 2011)†. It is claimed that at an instant, Bob is found with initial properties such as those which the senses are susceptible to experience in terms, for instance, of temperature change, phase shift, or shape transformation. â€Å"At time ‘t’, Bob can assume the shape of an orb while being cold and solid at the same time while at some time after ‘t’ he may